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 games: half-life 2: episode one
Storming the Citadel. With Half-Life 2, developer Valve once more emphasised that they were among the cream of developers, not just in terms of providing a swanky game engine, but also in being able to tell a story with a narrative you feel strongly involved in. Half-Life 2 ended very suddenly, however, with Gordon Freeman – you – having fought his way to the top of the Citadel and triggered an explosion in its reactor. Episode One, the first of three follow-on instalments planned to reach their climax for Christmas 2007, picks up right where Half-Life 2 left off. Suffice to say, neither Gordon nor sidekick Alyx have been blown to bits. They – and the rest of the population of City 17 – are in jeopardy, however, with the Citadel's core about to go into meltdown.  What ensues isn't an enormous game, it's about five hours of play, but it's just so gratifying to be plunged back into this particular epic. Back in 2004/2005, Half-Life 2 provided one of the most rewarding, gripping and pleasurable gaming experiences available. The release of The Lost Coast gave fans a chance to revisit the Half-Life 2 world for a chapter that wasn't included in the finished release of the game, but Episode One actually enables us to pick up the story and resume the adventure. As well as dealing with the Citadel problem, Gordon and Alyx, along with other free human survivors, are faced with the challenge of escaping the city, something you undertake during the course of five chapters. Although game elements do feel familiar, Valve has included varied gameplay (they really mix up the waves of attackers) with some notable developments. Valve have stated that the releasing of episodes is in part motivated by “the rapid changes in PC gaming”. With episodes they can incrementally improve the Half-Life experience in tandem with hardware advances. So here the already magnificent game engine has been tweaked, notably in the modelling of Alyx, whose expressive face provides a human, emotional dimension to proceedings. She looks anxious a lot of the time, but also manages to be pretty flirty with Gordon.  Like the cinema Saturday morning serials of yesteryear, these episodes (which are somewhere between expansion packs and sequels) look set to end on cliffhangers and keep us gagging for more. “I don't think this war's gonna end,” bemoans one freedom fighter in Episode One. Who knows, maybe we could be fighting the Combine indefinitely, with Half-Life 2: Episodes One, Two and Three possibly being followed by Half-Life 3: Episodes One, Two and Three. Certainly Valve's world of head-crabs, amiable robot dogs, fearsome tripods and interdimensional strife doesn't feel in any danger of getting stale. Oh, and if you think five hours of play isn't enough for a £15 purchase, think again. The Episode One package not only includes the game, there's also nifty DVD-type extras in the form of optional commentary bubbles, and two online multiplayer games. Roll on Episode Two.
Daniel Etherington
Half-Life 2: Episode One is out now on PC.
 comments
Read members' comments related to this game.
comment by Standard Phil©
Jul 13, 2006
www.fraps.comYou can record in-game footage or take screenshots.
comment by Dissposablehero
Jul 13, 2006
the link for that is www.hidden-source.comDoes anyone know of a program that you can take screen shots while playing a game and it just saves them rather than having to paste into paint and saving each one???
comment by Daniel Etherington
Jul 12, 2006
there's another one by the same person that's set in, wotsit called, the alien world where Freeman goes at the end of H-L 1. I couldn't get that one to work though sadly.I'll check out that one you mention too Phil.
comment by Dissposablehero
Jul 12, 2006
[quote]here's Minverva Metastasis - downloads are down the bottom of the page.http://www.hylobatidae.org/minerva/phosphenes.shtm... . [/quote] Cheers man, ill definatly check it out, didnt last night cause i was installing HL2 again and "decrypting" and updating the files
comment by Standard Phil©
Jul 11, 2006
You always have to go one better don't you Dan.  Have a look for Hidden: Source. That's a cool mod for HL2. Sort of like a Marines Vs Predator game.
comment by Daniel Etherington
Jul 11, 2006
here's Minverva Metastasis - downloads are down the bottom of the page.http://www.hylobatidae.org/minerva/phosphenes.shtm...
comment by Dissposablehero
Jul 11, 2006
No problem, cheers.Theres allot of good mods for FPS's namley Tactical Ops(UT2004) and Strike Force(UT2004) - ones ive played recently. But i hope the modding community is as strong for Half Life as UT, Quake, Oblivion or Max Payne.
comment by Standard Phil©
Jul 11, 2006
I can't remember the site address, but I know you can get to a download for it if you type in 'HL2 Mods' in google. It'll bring up a few sites which link to other mods.
comment by Dissposablehero
Jul 11, 2006
[quote]I've not, but I've been enjoying some other stuff that's set in the Half-Life universe, and uses the engine, but is a mod created by a chap called Adam Foster. Something called Minerva: Metastatis. Two of three episodes of a trilogy are available so far.[/quote]Does anyone have a link for this? Wanna give it a go. Episodic gaming for me isnt too good, cause youll get really into it, the episode will end and youll never speak of it again. id prefer to keep normal games, i wouldnt mind if it had a good multiplayer side to it like halo, but half life doesnt, everyone just plays CS:S
comment by Simon-Games Nut
Jun 13, 2006
OK phil don't get angry i didn't know lol
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 half-life 2games #080  the lost coastgame awards 2005 previous gaming columns  dreamfallgames #155  x-mengames #154  e3 2006games #153  rise of nationsgames #152  silent hill moviegames #151 books  books and comics archive Author interviews and reviews from 2002 to 2008. |
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